Venture capital: Mexico fails private-equity test

Mexico has long been known for its big public companies: Televisa is the world's biggest broadcaster of Spanish-language programming, and wireless telephone group America Móvil has a reach that criss-crosses Latin America. But, with an illiquid stock market, Mexico falls short in providing financing for start-up firms that could be the region's Amazon.com or Apple, undermining the country's economic potential and shunning venture capitalists that are some of the most important providers of funding for small companies. "Mexico's problem is not a lack of capital or a lack of ideas, but a lack of local investors willing to take the necessary risks," says Howard Wallack, the recently appointed director of the Latin American Venture Capital Association (Lavca). "Mexico needs good business plans with the right people to execute them."